


The Captain and the Lady

by gamorreangirl



Category: Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:28:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gamorreangirl/pseuds/gamorreangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria Hill finds herself pregnant after the Chitauri invasion and finds help and support in the most unlikely of places.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning of the End

Chapter One

The Aliens might have been destroyed but the battle was far from over. The men and women, and there were a lot of them, who had been turned by Loki's staff were still out there. They were trying to overthrow the government and prepare the world for rule by the man they thought would lead them to what he called "peace". They didn’t know he wasn’t even on Earth anymore, having been taken back to Asgard by his brother.

As the dust settled from the explosion, Maria leaned against the side of the Quinjet trying to convince her breakfast to stay down. She wasn’t sure what was up these past few days but ever since the Chitauri invasion she hadn’t slowed down enough to try and figure out what was wrong with her.

She blamed nerves, frayed and raw from everything that had happened. Mourning Phil and the other Agents who had given their lives to save the city. Watching Barton struggle with his feelings of responsibility, which was worse than the mourning. Loki would have found a way in without Barton but that fact brought little comfort to the guilty man. She knew how she’d feel if she was Clint Barton and she did not envy him his guilt.

Knelling down farther, her hands on her knees and retching once more, having  
thrown up several times all she could do now was ride out the dry heaves. As she was wiping her mouth on her sleeve she noticed boots in front of her. They were covered in so much ash she couldn’t tell who they belonged to but as she started to stand she felt an arm on hers gently helping. That one touch let her know that it was Steve. Captain Freaking America had been standing there, watching her throw up. She sighed and looked up at him.

“Captain” she said, her voice sounding rough. “Ma’am” was his response. Are you hurt? Um… Were you hurt?” he stammered over his words and she couldn’t help but find it amusing as she waited on him to finish his sentence. “That was a big explosion…do you need a medic?”

“No,” she replied a bit annoyed. “I don’t need a medic. I’m fine. Just a little sick is all.”

He frowned down at her but she interrupted his concern. “There are Agent’s down and dying. They are our priority. I’ll get checked out after they’re all taken care of.” She had no intention of letting them look at her for being sick like this, but at least it got the Captain off of her case.

She moved through the rubble and felt an overwhelming sense of grief at seeing the mangled Agent’s surrounding her. She had been doing both her job and Phil’s since his passing, even though she had a feeling there was more to that than Fury was telling, but the time hadn’t come for her to confront him yet. She paused a moment, bending down over a fallen agent and finding no pulse and biting back the tears threatening to break her usual demeanor. She would not fall apart. Not here. She would grieve later. For now they were still facing these groups that Loki had brainwashed into bringing down SHIELD. It was truly amazing how many people he had managed to turn in just a few days.

From the shadows underneath the Jet, she watched the dead and wounded be loaded onto the waiting planes that would take them to either medical help or to the morgue, whichever the case may be and thought about all the letters she’d be writing to families when she got back aboard the carrier. She hated this part of Phil’s job. He had always been the one who wrote the letters. Personally, she thought she was awful at it but she’d do it for Phil… for his memory. She wouldn’t let him down. After everything that had happened in the past few weeks…she would do her best to carry on, Phil being her inspiration to do so.


	2. Swearing In Front Of The Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria gets some startling news while in Tony Stark's bathroom. Things aren't going so well for Agent Hill.

CHAPTER TWO

Several weeks later, she sat in a bathroom in tears. She knew when it happened, she could remember it vividly, waking up in the motorpool. They had both been so drunk and she had woken up in his bed, the evidence of what had happened very clear. It was one time so she wasn’t really worried about it thinking the odds were so slim that anything would come from one night of unprotected drunken sex. 

Now, as she sat staring at that little stick that would change her life forever she wept. She wept for the man who would never see his child and she wept for that child who would never know anything of their father other than the stories she would tell them. On that day, her hatred for Loki grew like the Grinch’s heart at the end of that holiday movie. She wept and got angry and screamed and let all the pent up grief from the last month out in a fit of rage.

After she’d stopped screaming and crying and raging… she remembered where she was. She was not alone, she was at Stark Tower to brief the Avengers on the activities of the remaining groups of Loki’s Loyalists, a term that she thought was ridiculous, but had been chosen to describe the poor brainwashed beings he Norse god had left behind. That stupid scepter was in a SHIELD lab but the people he took with it were still brainwashed by its power. She paced and debated hiding in the restroom forever. Maybe she’d be lucky. Maybe nobody had heard her. As long as it wasn’t Stark, she thought she could survive the rest of the day.

Slowly, she pushed the door open, determined to face down anything that was  
waiting for her on the other side of the door with her usual icy demeanor. She stuck her head out into the hallway looking to her left and starting to relax as it was clear so she stepped into the hallway and turned to her right and ran right into something solid. A very solid chest that belonged to on Steve Rogers who looked down at her with concern burning in his clear blue eyes, “Maria? Are you okay?”

Gathering her composure about her she stared up at him, momentarily distracted by his eyes and wondering why they were so full of concern. “Hmmm?” she replied in a distracted manner.

“You were upset? I heard you crying,” he said in that innocent manner of his. That infuriatingly innocent manner of his.

“Damn it” and her hand immediately coming up to her mouth as she realized she  
just cursed at Captain Freaking America. “Sorry,” she mumbled and for once she  
was thankful that Steve was the man out of time because that stupid stick with that blasted positive sign was still clutched in her hand and she started laughing. She stood there laughing as Steve looked down at her confused but no way was she going to explain she was laughing because she’d nearly stuck a stick covered with her own pee in her mouth.

Steve put an arm on her shoulder to steady her completely oblivious to what she  
was giggling about and thinking that she was just going through the stages of  
grief. “Would you like a glass or water or something Agent Hill?” he asked her with concern in his eyes.

Smiling, because he remembered she’d told him she didn’t like being called Ma’am she glanced up at the man, momentarily distracted by his cool blue eyes “water would be great Captain.”


	3. I Learn How To Distract Captain America

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria briefs the Avengers then passes out in their bathroom leading to a trip to the hospital, by force if so be it...

CHAPTER 3

Steve was distracted during the briefing. He couldn’t help staring at Maria, um….  
Agent Hill. He only called her Maria in his own thoughts because there was sure she wouldn’t appreciate it much. She reminded him of Peggy, a fierce woman struggling to make her place in what was predominately a man’s organization. Sure there were a lot of women on the carrier but none as close to the top as she was.

He stared at her hands on the folder, noticing she was fidgeting more than usual. He stared at her face,the dark circles under her eyes had gotten darker since the last mission, the one where he’d noticed her being ill. He’d tried to get her to go get looked over by the Medics then but she had refused, pulling rank on him so he had given up. He wondered if she’d been to see a doctor sense. He doubted it, they had all been so busy with Loki’s Loyalists.

After the briefing, he watched as she spoke with Pepper, noticing that she seemed a bit “off” but not being able to pinpoint why. He wanted to speak to her but she walked quickly away from Pepper even though it looked like they were still in the middle of whatever they were talking about and rushed past him headed back to that restroom.

Steve debated for a moment but followed her anyway, standing outside the door  
listening to her be ill, over and over again. His ear to the door he heard a thud sounded like a body and called out “Stark!” before nudging the door open with his shoulder, there was Maria crumpled on the floor. Quickly going to her side and gently turning her over and calling out again “Guys, I need some help in here.”

Glancing down he notices she’s starting to stir making incoherent sounds and by the time Thor poked his head in the door she was trying to sit up. “What…” she started to say before trying for a cover up, “I must have slipped.”

Steve looked down at her, frowning. “Agent Hill,” he said with those blue eyes  
focused on her. “You’re sick. We’re going to take you to get medical attention and if you try to argue with me this time I’m just going to throw you over my shoulder and make you go anyway.”

Sighing but looking up at him, “that won’t be necessary Captain, I think I need to  
go…” And she’d barely finished that phrase before she passed back out.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

She heard the doctor’s words but they weren’t sinking in. She knew that Barton was the one who had stayed in the room with her. He’d taken an interest in her health and safety since he’d been Loki’s puppet. The guilt of almost killing her three times playing on his conscious and making him nearly overbearing in his attempts to balance what he thought was a debt he owed her.

She knew that the rest of them were out in the waiting area. Even Stark had come along and to make things even more interesting he’d called Fury. The entire hospital could her Thor demanding updates and his pacing wasn’t very quiet either. Natasha had slipped out of the room the moment the doctor had given her the news and she wasn’t sure where Rogers had gotten off to but she dreaded facing him once he found out.

Why do I even care what he thinks? Because you were checking out his backside on the helicarrier. Oh shut up Maria. Oh god, I’m arguing with myself. 

Running over the thoughts in her head of the father and having her heart break into a thousand pieces each time. They hadn’t been dating for very long or very often before the Chitauri invasion and he was one of the Agents SHIELD had lost. She dreaded telling Barton this, as it was he saw it as his fault that the Helicarrier was damaged and Sam was killed when that first arrow took out the number one engine.

She could remember the night she had too much to drink and they started their  
relationship by having sex in the back of the nearest Jeep…in the back of the  
Director’s personal Jeep. It had been reckless and crazy and she’d do it again in a heartbeat. She laid her hand on her stomach, trying to wrap her head around the fact that there was a little life growing inside of her, the last piece of the man that could have possibly been the one. The one that she could have had a future with, settled down maybe? No, she wouldn’t have settled down but they could have been together.

After some time the doctor’s left and she was lying there staring at the ceiling tiles when Barton moved over to the bedside. “Who is he?” he was asking? “I’ll put an arrow in his knee for making you do this alone.” Turning to gaze at him with a sad smile I take his hand. “Clint, I’m so glad that you’re willing to defend my honor but he’s gone. The father, I mean. He was a fellow agent and we just had his memorial last week. But it’s okay. I’ll have something to remember him by.”

A tear slid down Barton’s cheek and I felt like the evil witch in all the children’s  
stories. “I…I’m… damn it I’m sorry Hill…” he started before Natasha came out of  
nowhere and put an arm around his shoulder and started talking to him in a low  
voice. “Barton,” I added. “Don’t you dare go blaming yourself for any of those deaths. He mumbled a few things back to her that I couldn’t hear but enough was enough.

“They were NOT your fault. The fault lies with Loki and Loki alone.” I started in on the all too familiar lecture. As I got more agitated the machines I was connected to began beeping faster bringing nurses into the room. Natasha took Clint out with a sad smile and the nurse added something to the IV and I fell into a fitful sleep.


	4. I'm Going To Live Where?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria learns that Steve has a decent bedside manner, that Clint has guilt issues and that when Nick Fury says it's what you're going to do...you do it.

CHAPTER 4

Waking up slowly and trying to find my bearings, l looked around the small hospital room only to find Rogers sitting in the chair beside the bed asleep. It’s dark outside the window and I wonder when it got dark. Wasn’t it daylight when I came in here? My turning to look around had made a soft rustling sound in the sheets and Steve sat up straight and looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Agent Hill.” Why was he always so proper? But he continued in that stiff manner of his, “You’re awake.”

He stood and kind of looked lost standing beside my bed. “I’ll go get the doctor,” He said quietly. “He’s been waiting on you to wake up.”

“Steve,” could you wait a minute? Turning around he looked at me. “Sure,” he said, looking down at me funny. I stared at him, wondering what he was thinking. I pushed the little buttons on the bed so I could sit up and noticed Barton asleep in the chair in the corner of the room. Frowning I looked back at Steve, “How long was I out?” “Long enough to worry us all Mari…I mean ma’am. The doctor’s said it was due to your being dehydrated and your running yourself into full blown exhaustion.”

Oh, I thought to myself. Well, that made a bit of sense. I had a flash of panic that I’d be forced to desk duty for the duration of this pregnancy and those machines betrayed me. Steve stood quickly “I need to get a doctor Ma’ um, Agent Hill.” He was out the door before I could stop him. I counted backward from 60 and by the time Steve came running into the room with the doctor behind him the machines were beeping in what I thought was the normal manner. The doctor checked everything over and said that I could leave first thing in the morning but that I was going to have to take it easy and rest more.

I listened to this and was able to keep myself calm so the machines didn’t betray my uneasiness this time. As I gained more control over my emotions through the fog of the medication I started trying to figure out how to do my job and rest at the same time. Once the doctor’s had cleared the room I noticed that I was surrounded by Steve, Barton, Thor and Tony Stark, they were standing around the bed and I couldn’t help but feel rather trapped.

“Maria,” Steve began. “We’ve all talked it over and since your home was destroyed in the invasion… and since the Helicarrier isn’t really a place you can find rest…we think you should come home with us.” I just looked up at them trying to find words. You think I should come home with you? Oh no, you said all of you…Just stop it Maria, you’re embarrassing yourself.

“Hill,” Tony added, “This may come as a shock to you but I’m not the uncaring bastard the world sometimes thinks I am. There’s plenty of room at the tower and you’ll have friends there.” I honestly wondered if I was still asleep and just didn’t notice it. Yeah, I must have died because Tony Stark was just almost nice to me. 

“Um, look guys…thanks and all but…” I started to say before Barton started to talk. “Maira,” his voice was quiet “I did a lot of bad things while I was under Loki’s control. Let us help you. Let me help you. I need to do something to make up for what I did. If I hadn’t brought him aboard the carrier you’d be here with this baby’s father. Please, let us help you. Please let me help you.” His voice was thick with emotion and I just couldn’t find it in myself to say no.

“Okay,” I looked each of them in the eye. “But there will be no treating me like I’m some sort of fragile breakable thing. Is that understood?” I had tried to put all the authority of Nick Fury into my voice before I realized that he was standing in the corner of the room moments before he spoke. “I think it’s a grand idea and you can be the liaison between SHIELD and the Avengers this way,” Fury said in that voice that let me know there was no arguing over this one.

So, I fell back asleep with the knowledge that once I left this hospital, my life might not be the same as it was before I was brought in. I’d never had much of a family. It was just my dad and he wasn’t exactly caring. But, this baby…this life I was growing inside me. They would know love. And I was both worried and slightly relieved that I had somewhere to stay. Sure, I was fixing to move in with a group of people that were perhaps best described as a time bomb but I felt the safest I had felt in a long time. I could do this. I could have this baby…right?


	5. Back From The Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria learns that Fury lies.

Chapter 5

Stark Tower…Stark Tower is like a five star hotel, anything you could want is only a mention or call away. Anything you could want except a bit of peace and quiet that is. I know they mean well but having four, sometimes five men hovering is not something I’m used to. It is also something I have no intention of becoming used to but, it is my home for now and I have to accept that.

The first few days were okay. I went back to work and I came back to the Tower so exhausted all I did was fall asleep. Then two weeks out of the hospital SHIELD HQ was attacked by a group of Loki’s Loyalists and I wound up with a broken leg, a couple of shattered ribs and a concussion. So, after a two week stay in the hospital for monitoring of the baby…I was back at Stark Tower and on bed rest. Needless to say, I was getting…a little bit stir crazy.

It wasn’t so much the being cooped up, although that was pretty bad. I had computer access to SHIELD but I wasn’t going to be back in the field or back on the helicarrier until after the baby was born. Fury said something about not wanting to deliver a baby on his boat…then he had this long talk with me about how he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if something happened to me or the baby because of the job. That I needed to take this time and take care of myself. And keep the Avengers up to speed on the Loki Loyalists and to help Stark with the lawsuits.

It seems his little stunt where he announced to the world that he was Iron Man made him the one half of New York was suing to pay for the damages to the city. He saved the city, most people don’t know that because the Council wasn’t going to advertise the fact that they were going to nuke Manhattan so the public was attacking Tony Stark. They had gone so far as to picket outside the Tower. It was quite the scene and I could tell that it was wearing on Stark. Guy saves the world and all he gets is sued. 

So, my new job was to work with the Avengers on making them fit a public image. It was scheduling press conferences and working with Pepper on what Tony need to say and what he didn’t need to say. Pepper…Pepper Potts is a brilliant woman who, as far as I’m concerned, should be awarded a medal of honor for putting up with Tony Stark. I’ve gotten to know her over these past few weeks and I have to admit, I’m finding myself liking her. She’d make a great Agent if she wasn’t so wrapped up in Stark.

So it was no surprise when I got up this morning and got myself into the wheelchair and started towards the kitchens that I bumped into none other than Stark himself. “Oh, hey Hill…I was just um…” he stumbled over his words. 

“You were just waiting on me to get up so I could do something for you?” I looked up at him, uncomfortable in the wheelchair but the doctors insisted that I keep off my feet as much as possible until my leg healed and I was managing the pregnancy better. 

“I was just going to let you know that I might have gone out and yelled at the protesters last night” he was holding up his hand to keep me from saying anything so I just leaned back and narrowed my eyes at him, letting him continue. “Before you get upset…I told them they were right. That our actions did cause damage but that it was only to save them. That waitress that has the crush on Steve…I couldn't help thinking to myself...Oh yes Tony, I know the one and how my blood pressure goes up every time I hear her go on and on about how Captain America saved me…there you go again Maria, upset over things you have no right to be upset over. Pay attention to Stark…"She was there and came to our defense and I think they actually listened to her because they got quiet and this morning they were gone.”

I looked up at him for a few minutes before I said anything causing him to kneel down and look me in the eyes, a hand resting on my arm “Maria, are you okay? Do we need to get the doctor?” The word “doctor” brought my attention back to where it should be. “No, I’m fine…sorry, just a bit of pain in the leg” He interrupted me then. “Maria, the doctor said you can take the pain medication, it won’t hurt the baby…” 

It was my turn to cut him off, “Stark, just don’t. I’m not in the mood to argue over it. I’m not taking them and that is the end of the discussion.” I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll call Coulson later and see if there’s something up or if they’re just tired of standing out there yelling.”

Yes, Coulson…Fury came clean to me in the hospital. After I was hurt…when I woke up from surgery I thought I was dead or loosing my mind. There beside my bed in a wheelchair of his own was Phil. Not dead. It was a good thing I wasn’t able to get out of the bed just then because I might have killed Nick Fury. He explained that the Avengers needed a push and how Phil was what they needed so they needed to believe he was dead.

Phil told me all about how mad he was when he found out what Fury had done to his set of Vintage Captain America trading cards. It was great to have Phil back. It made things seem more normal. Like we were going to get through this. Like all the pain and suffering and death meant something. SHIELD was more complete with Phil Coulson alive and well. He was already back at work but like me, they weren’t letting him out in the field just yet. He stopped by on a regular basis to see me in the afternoons, to keep me in the loop. I guess he understood the feeling of needing to know what was going on. His visits were one of the few things keeping me sane.

Distracted by my own thoughts I hadn’t realized where I was pushing the chair, how close I had gotten to the top of edge of the drop off into the sitting area in Tony’s lounge until it was too late. But, no sooner had I felt the front wheels loose contact with the floor and try and stop myself, did a pair of familiar hands grip the arm of the chair, stopping me from what would have most likely been a painful tumble. It had to be Steve, didn’t it? 

“Maria! Are you okay?” bright blue eyes looked down at me, full of concern. 

Looking up into those eyes is distracting. “Yeah, I’m fine…I um, I got distracted is all.”

“Distracted?” He said it like a question. “Well, try not to do that. I might not be here next time.”

“I don’t plan on there being a next time but…I’m glad you were here.” I look down from those eyes because it feels like they’re boring into my soul and there are things in my soul I'd rather Captain America not see.

“Good plan Mar..Agent Hill” he catches himself this time before calling me Maria.

“Steve, you can call me Maria when we’re here. This is your home…right now it’s my home and we can afford to be casual here.”

Those blue eyes looked down at me with an intensity in them made my heart flutter. That little voice in my head lecturing me again. What are you doing Hill? He doesn’t think of you like that. He’s just concerned. But, I keep looking at him, trying to read his mind, and failing horribly. “Maria,” he said softly, “thank you. Just, be careful. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Shaking my head, “No, I’m just going to make a few calls and I think Phil is stopping by this afternoon, but…thanks for asking. I’m starting to get Tower fever being cooped up in here...I need to get out or something.”

 

I miss the wheelchair. I don’t really, but this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Two months in the wheelchair while my leg healed and I’m almost four months pregnant now, struggling through my physical therapy while Rogers sits there, watching. He’s become a steady presence in my life since the injury and while I appreciate it, I just don’t know what to make of it.

I’ve accepted it for the time being and I have to admit it’s kind of nice. Steve is good company and while we seem to argue as much as we don’t it is something I’ve grown accustomed to. Fury made me a liaison between SHIELD and the Avengers and I’ve gotten used to the job so long as Stark isn’t driving me crazy with insubordination or Barton isn't asking me over and over again if I'm comfortable. Your pillows could only be fluffed so much.

So, there I was, on those stupid bars, trying to learn to walk again on a leg that didn’t want to support me with a bump out front that destroyed my balance. I hadn’t worked this hard at anything in a long time and it was a good thing I was a very stubborn woman or I would have quit trying already. While trying to tune out the therapists constant coaching my mind drifted to how things were going at the Tower.

The current debate was which one of them was going to go to childbirth classes with me. Barton insisted it was his responsibility because he killed the father, which I constantly reminded him of the fact that he didn’t. Thor insisted that Midgardian methods of childbirth were barbaric and he could get an Asgardian healer to come and handle things. Steve reminded all of us that he was probably the calmest under pressure and wouldn’t be rude to the hospital staff. I agreed with him on this but I wasn’t saying anything. Stark even argued that it should be him but it seemed to be just because the others were insisting that it should be them. That man had some serious competitive issues.

I hadn’t made a choice but I was going to have to make one soon. Noticing that my hands were starting to shake I knew it was time to stop before I wound up falling again. I didn’t think Steve would be able to stay in his chair if I didn’t sit down soon so I told the therapist I was done for the day and they helped me over to the chairs.

“Steve” I said, trying to keep the strain out of my voice. “I’m done for the day.”

Those blue eyes looked up at me from where he was sitting, an intensity in them that made my heart skip a beat. That annoying little voice reminding me, you've got to get over this Maria, it’s not like that. Oh shut up…me. Yeah, I was arguing with myself. 

“Maira” he frowned at me. Damn it, that frown made me feel all emotional. “You’re pushing yourself too hard.” He moved from his chair, standing and laying a hand on my stomach. “Remember it’s not just you. You’ve got to take things slow like the doctor said.”

He was right. I knew it on a fundamental level but it annoyed me that he pointed it out. “I know, I keep getting reminded” and before I realized what I was doing I had my hand on top of his on my stomach, sliding it down a little so he could feel the baby kicking. “Very active today…they get active when I get active.” His face was so full of wonder at feeling the baby kick. “You can drive back to the tower, I’m exhausted.”

That stirred him from his fascination with the babies movements. “Of course,” he moved to take my arm, then hesitated…I usually wouldn’t let anyone help me but I was really tired today so I let him. 

“You’re doing a lot better Maria, I’m impressed,” he said as we shuffled towards the door, my speed so much slower than his. 

“Thanks” I managed to say, through clenched teeth. I was pushing myself too hard…

He smiled at that. I was too tired to argue with him so I let him help me into the SUV and buckled my belt and was asleep before we were out of the parking garage.


	6. I Really Don't Like Lawyers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony Stark has a court date and things don't go as planned for Hill.

Chapter 6

 

At seven months pregnant I tried to remember what it was like to be alone. A person was never really alone in Stark Tower and since I’d developed preeclampsia they never left me alone for long.

 

While the doctor said that I could keep working as long as I watched my blood pressure and took it easy my current housemates had a different idea. Of course, currently my job involved being a liaison between SHIELD and the Avengers and  dealing with the lawsuits following the Battle for New York.

 

It was the third day of negotiations with one of the groups suing Stark that became the wrong place to be when trying to keep my blood pressure under control. I had my own issues with Stark, and they were plenty. But, this particular Senator, sitting behind his little podium and blaming him for everything was grating on my nerves but it’s not like I could stand up and say “Shut up. Because of Tony Stark the entire burrow of Manhattan didn’t get nuked” because that was classified information.

 

I’d been trying the calming techniques Bruce had showed me but they weren’t working. The baby was letting me know that I needed to calm down like she always did with a swift kick into the ribs. So, I closed my eyes and I was counting down backwards from ten when I felt someone tap my shoulder.

 

“Maria, is everything okay?” came the whisper in my ear. Laughing softly on the inside I whispered back, “Yes Steve. I’m just trying to make myself calm down.”

 

Forcing my attention back to the Senator and trying to not look over at Steve who I know is looking at me as if I am about to break or pass out or something. It was only the one time, okay…maybe several times lately but the doctor said everything was okay and we had just been to see him yesterday but Steve was still hovering. And while part of me did not mind it, that part of me was enjoying the attention, the part of me that I kept reminding needed to stop and face reality. He was just concerned for the baby, they all were. But, what was going to happen when she got here?

 

The distraction had served me well and I was feeling much better until the lawyers started talking to one of the Senator’s who started pointing out how SHIELD was as much to blame as Stark, though they did not mention SHIELD by name but they were blaming them all the same. They kept saying secret government agency this and secret government agency that. How obviously the people designated to protect failed miserably and should be brought to trail as well.

  
It went on for several minutes, this overweight angry man yelling about how somebody obviously didn’t do their job and something inside me snapped. I stood, too quickly, but already shouting back. “Sir, you don’t know what you’re talking about. If it wasn’t for The Avengers…for Tony Stark…You wouldn’t be alive to blame anyone….” I’m not sure what I was going to say beyond that because my sudden standing and loosing my temper had me feeling very dizzy and I knew even though I was trying to sit back down that I wasn’t going to make it.

 

The dizziness won and I remember everything fading to black as I tipped forward, banging my head on the way down. I vaguely remember seeing Steve’s worried face hovering over mine before I lost consciousness.

 

I woke up to Steve yelling. I thought I was dreaming because Captain America didn’t usually yell, especially not at Senators. Today was apparently an exception to this fact as he was yelling at a bunch of people in that courtroom. And I think I heard him flat at tell them all to shut up before I managed to tap him on the leg.

He looked down at me and seeing I was awake, picked me up and headed out of the Courtroom with a concerned look on his face.

 

He walked past all the cameras and out the front doors and past more cameras before getting into the car with Happy behind the wheel and Stark already inside. I think that was Thor wedged into the passenger seat up front. He eased me into the seat and I wondered why Stark looked pale before I reached up to push my hair from my face and looked at my hand. Why was my hand red I thought to myself before I lost track of even more time.

 

Eleven stitches and a lecture from yet another doctor and I was told we could go home as soon as I'd spent an hour on the fetal monitors. Home. It was funny how I had already begun to think of Stark Tower as my home. As independent as I was, I was getting used to feeling like I was a part of something, even if that something was a pseudo family that was as dysfunctional as the Avengers seemed to be. It was nice to get up in the morning and have someone there who genuinely seemed to care if I was alive to face another day. I was going to miss this when it was gone. The soft sound of he babies heart rate combined with the painkiller was lulling me back to sleep and I nodded off not waking until a good deal later.

 

What woke me up was Thor outside arguing with somebody so I knew I was still alive so I slowly opened my eyes and looked around the small room. I was in an ER exam room so it wasn’t so bad I was being admitted. Looking around I was surprised to find Agent Coulson sitting beside me. He looked tired but came to the side of the little hospital bed with a sad smile on his face.

 

“You’ve got to take better care of yourself” he started but I held up a hand and stopped him.

 

“I know. I lost my temper and don’t even start…I know I have to take it easy.”

 

“Steve is out there yelling at Fury for making you go to that hearing in the first place,” Phil was saying with that look he got every time he mentioned Captain America.

 

Looking up at Phil, “Steve is…”

 

“Yelling at Fury, yes.” He confirms while giving me a look that says he knows what I’m trying so desperately not to feel.

 

“Well, somebody needs to. I’m not going to be able to do these court appearances anymore, at least not until”

 

“you have the baby.” He finished my sentence.

 

Coulson had an annoying habit of doing that, finishing my sentences. I guess that happens when you work so closely together for as long as we had. Even though we didn’t have a close relationship, he seemed to always know what I was going to say. He seemed to always know what everyone was going to say.

 

It was rather frustrating.  I don’t remember much about what happened that night. If Thor ever calmed down, if Steve and Fury came to an understanding…I just remembered waking up around three in the morning in my room at Stark Tower and seeing the outline of Captain America in the chair beside my bed, a copy of What to Expect when you’re expecting in his hand about to fall into the floor. Chuckling softly to myself I fell back asleep.


End file.
